Already Dead
by emebalia
Summary: Tag to 9x09 so SPOILERS for that episode. Gadreel and Metatron have been out of the game for a long time so there are some facts they're not aware of.


**Already Dead**

To restore Heaven they needed more angles, loyal ones, angels they could trust, Gadreel knew that. But they were hard to find. So when one of Bartholomew's followers contacted Metatron, Metatron send Gadreel to meet him to find out if he could be trusted or not.

_And if Damael isn't trustworthy and this is a trap Metatron is fine with me in the first line taking the blow,_ Gadreel thought bitterly. What Metatron had offered was tempting and he had accepted that offer eagerly but Gadreel had no illusions about his role in this. If it came down to it he was expendable.

Gadreel stood in the darkest corner of the ally, waiting for Damael.

When the other angel came near, Gadreel stepped out of the shadows to meet him. When he spotted him Damael's confident stride faltered, became a stagger before he finally stopped a few yards from waiting angel with clear disbelief written all over his face.

"You have to be kidding me." Squinting like he didn't trust his eyes Damael closed in to Gadreel. "Sam Winchester?"

"You know my vessel?" He knew that the Winchesters had contact with angels before, one of their closest friends was one, or rather had been one, but it took him by surprise that Damael recognized Sam.

"If I know him?" Damael rubbed his face. "Everybody knows him. You have to be living under a rock to not know him." He shook his head as if he still couldn't quite believe what he was seeing. Then understanding dawned on his face. "I forgot, you _were_ living under a rock the last few millennia."

Gadreel set his jaw, nobody talked to him like that.

"My imprisonment is not the topic we're here to discuss." He reminded Damael harshly.

"No, but Sam Winchester just became a topic." He crooked his head. "Did you take a look at his memories?" An evil smile spread over Damael's lips. "Bet you didn't. Or you did and you're just dumber than I thought."

"You said you have information about Bartholomew." Gadreel tried to bring the conversation back on track before he did something stupid like smiting the other angel on the spot. He wasn't a cold-blooded killer, and he tried really hard to get that kid's face out of his mind, but Damael was pushing his luck here.

"I don't even want to know how you tricked Sam Winchester into saying yes to you." Damael sighed and hold his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "But tell me at least that you got rid of his brother."

"Dean?" Gadreel frowned. He knew Dean well by now and he was sure that Dean was raging in this very moment but he was just a human. The image of a helpless Dean, pinned to the wall by Gadreel's sheer will came to mind. A defeated Dean who was doomed to watch when he murdered Kevin Tran and then walked away with his brother. "No, it didn't seem necessary to harm him."

"It didn't seem …?" Damael nearly hyperventilated and his voice toppled over when he spoke: "You're wearing his brother like a cheap suit and it didn't seem necessary?"

"Dean can't do anything about me, he means no threat." He clarified but for some reason Damael didn't let go of this. It was rather annoying.

"No threat? You took his brother!" Damael yelled at him as if he was stupid.

"He can't harm me without harming his brother." Gadreel stated. This wasn't exactly how he'd planned it but he could work with this.

"He'll find a way." Damael promised darkly. "He will _create_ a way. You're dead, brother. You just don't know it yet."

Gadreel raised an eyebrow. "Now you're exaggerating, you know that, right?"

"All I know is that Dean Winchester wants his brother back and he'll just waltz over every obstacle in his way. Meaning you." Damael pointed with his finger at Gadreel whom he obviously considered a hopeless cause. "I don't want to get caught in the crossfire. I'm out."

He turned and started to walk away. Over his shoulder he said: "Bartholomew may be crazy but at least he has a chance to survive the next week."

After the other angel was gone Gadreel just stood there for a long moment. Had it been a mistake to keep this vessel? Should he have looked deeper into the back-story of the Winchester brother's?

Gadreel shook his head. Damael was a coward, afraid of his own shadow. Not what Metatron was looking for anyway so no loss there. They would find other angels, angels willing to fight, angels which weren't afraid of one single human.

_Dean Winchester is human,_ Gadreel thought. _And he is alone. What can he possibly do?_


End file.
